Gambia accused of Aids subterfuge

One of Africa's leading Aids specialists has accused the Gambian government of covertly obtaining blood tests from his laboratory to try to convince the world of the efficacy of the Gambian president's herbal remedy for the disease.

Since January, President Yahya Jammeh has been treating people with HIV in the compound of the presidential palace with his herbal rubs and drinks, which he claims are a cure. To the alarm of the International Aids Society, which represents doctors and others fighting HIV/Aids around the world, his patients have stopped taking antiretroviral drugs.

Yesterday, Souleymane Mboup, from the University of Dakar in Senegal and a leading figure in the IAS, alleged that the Gambian authorities had used subterfuge to get blood samples from the president's patients tested in his lab. The president claimed this year that tests had proved that his remedy worked.

That was wrong, said Professor Mboup. "The interpretation by the Gambian authorities of the results of HIV antibody and viral-load testing on blood samples sent to my laboratory is incorrect," he said.

"The results were obtained under false pretences, when a technician approached us asking for training on our equipment because he had problems operating the equipment in his laboratory. We agreed, and in this process, he asked us to test some anonymous samples, which we later learned were from patients who had received President Jammeh's treatment. Of those samples that were HIV-positive (66.66%), none could be described as cured."